


Worry

by missema



Series: Allyse Shepard, Space Cadet [21]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Drama, Fluff, Parents & Children, Post-Destroy Ending, Retirement, life on earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-23
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-26 16:06:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/652039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missema/pseuds/missema
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaidan and Allyse settle in for the quiet life, after the recovering and rebuilding get underway.  Years later, they're still the same people, but with teenage kids instead of Reapers to battle.</p><p>An Allyse Shepard short of family fluff, set in a post-destroy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worry

Kaidan's hair never actually completely turned grey.  The temples turned white, and the dark, wavy hair she so loved was shot through with strands of silvery white.  While he bemoaned finding new grey hairs, especially the ones that colored the scruff on his face after a few lazy days, they weren't nearly as numerous as the ones Allyse had to endure.  Even after everything, his hard stayed stubbornly dark and thick and as unruly as the day they'd met.  

In all honestly, she'd expected his whole head to turn white before he was forty-five.  Kaidan always kept so much in, all the worry, the hesitation, the fear - he lived inside of that handsome head.  The crinkles around his eyes grew, and the laugh lines around his mouth deepened, but his hair remained the same, year after year, photo after photo.

Allyse on the other hand, watched her hair turn color over the years, the reddish brown strands that were more red than brown went first.  Eventually, she had a head full of grey hair, but didn't carry it off as well as Dr. Chakwas, though she tried.  But she never really minded the change and didn't bother with coloring it .  It made her less recognizable as Commander Shepard, though more people than not seemed to know her, no matter what color her hair was.  Guess that was what happened when the first human Spectre went and married the second after they saved the galaxy.

That day, Kaidan was working on earning a few more grey hairs.  It was rare that he yelled, even now.  But he was yelling at that very moment, making Allyse's head pound with a dull ache that wanted nothing more than silence.

"Kaidan."  She said breaking into his angry monologue, hoping to calm him down.

"Don't "Kaidan" me."

"Jeez, you need a new line.  That one's as old as Mars."  Allyse joked, and it was her own half smile of remembrance that cracked his walls.

"It still works."  He said, smiling back at her.  He was losing steam, but started up again.  "All the same, this isn't acceptable."

" _Kaidan_."

"MO-OM, this isn't fair."  A loud whining voice interrupted.  Both of their heads turned at the sound, but it was Kaidan that responded first.  

"Go to your room, young lady."  Kaidan used the same voice with their daughters as he once used to train his biotic spec ops squad.  Stern, but not implacable, though their daughter knew it would be useless to try and argue with him any more.

Grey eyes that matched her own looked pleadingly at her, but Allyse's sympathy was at its end.  "Listen to your father."  She said in a voice hasher than she felt.  Inside, her heart broke a little at seeing the dejected little face that was a mix of Kaidan's features and her own, but Allyse held firm.

Sullen, heavy footsteps stomped away from the two of them, but not before she threw them a last look over her shoulder.  Eventually they heard a door upstairs open and close loudly, though it didn't slam, thanks more to the mechanics of said door than anything else. 

Kaidan pressed fingertips to his forehead, closing his eyes.  "Why did I ever want kids?"

"As I recall, it was a surprise.  Each time."  Allyse reminded him.

"And every time, some of the best surprises.  But what are we going to do?  She can't go on like this.  It's bound to drive one, or all of us crazy at some point."

Allyse went up to him, hugging him from behind, pressing her chin into his shoulder, feeling the soft, worn flannel of his shirt as it brushed her face.  He tipped his head back slightly, just enough to rest it against hers, his hands clasped over her own.

"She'll be fine.  It's a teenage girl thing, I promise.  Don't worry."  She said, her smile unseen by him.  He'd worry anyway, but she'd do her best to reassure him.

"You know I always worry."  His explanation was needless, but it made her smile.  Kaidan hadn't stopped worrying from the day she'd met him, he'd worried about Nihlus as they went on their first mission, and about her up until their last.  His big heart made him care, and it turned into worry more often than not.  She'd known it for years, but his amazing capacity to love always awed her.  Allyse squeezed him a little closer as she answered in a whisper.

"I know."

His body turned under her grip and she felt rather than saw him smile.  He understood, he always did.  Reapers had nothing on teenaged daughters, but they'd figure out a way to get through this too.


End file.
